Academic Arguments: Home

What is an Argument?

People usually think of arguments as disputes: children argue over a toy; roommates over the stereo; drivers about who had the right-of-way. Such arguments can be polite or heated, but they all involve conflict, with winners and losers. Academic arguments should be considered less as a prickly dispute and more as a thoughtful conversation with colleagues, a conversation in which you cooperatively explore a contestable issue that you all think is important to resolve or attempting to reach an agreement on the best answer to a hard question.

Five Easy Pieces

Every written argument is built out of the answers to five questions:

1. What do you claim (thesis statement)?

2. What reasons support that claim?

3. What evidence supports those reasons?

4. Do you acknowledge this alternative/complication/objection, and how do you respond?